Undergraduate medical students' experience in general practice

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• General Practice Training
• Clinical Exposure Documentation

Background:

• Community-based undergraduate medical education is expanding.
• Logbooks are valuable for documenting student clinical exposure in new training settings.
• Exploring novel clinical environments for medical student training is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To document the clinical experiences of medical students during general practice training.
• To assess the range of learning opportunities in Irish general practice for undergraduates.
• To evaluate the utility of logbooks in community-based medical education.

Main Methods:

• Fifth-year medical students recorded data from 20 consecutive general practice consultations.
• Data collection focused on patient demographics, diagnoses, and student involvement.
• Analysis of logbook entries from a large cohort of students.

Main Results:

• 186 students documented 3,710 consultations.
• Common diagnoses included hypertension, respiratory illness, and cough.
• Students actively participated in approximately 50% of consultations.
• Patient demographics and morbidity mirrored general practice populations.

Conclusions:

• General practice in Ireland offers a rich environment for medical student training.
• Students encounter a broad spectrum of clinical problems in this setting.
• Active learning and engagement are feasible for medical students in general practice.